A server is a computer connected to a network with components similar to the typical personal computer (PC) such as a microprocessor, memory chips and disc drives. But because the server communicates with other computers, the keyboard and video display are not necessary. Also like the typical PC, the server has a power supply and needs to dissipate heat roughly equal to the total electrical power input to the device. A typical rack or cabinet is 24- to 30-in. wide, 36 to 44-in. long and 76-in. high and can incorporate up to 42 U of computing equipment. “U” is a standard unit indicating the height of the computer server. Each “U” is 1.75 in. A 5 U server is 8.75 in. tall, therefore eight 5 U servers fill a 42 U rack. Like most electronic devices, the processing power and space efficiency of the servers has increased considerably in the last several years.
Blade servers are self-contained computer servers, designed for high density. Whereas a standard rack-mount server can exist with (at least) a power cord and network cable, blade servers have many components removed for space, power and other considerations while still having all the functional components to be considered a computer. A blade enclosure provides services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management—though different blade providers have differing principles around what should and should not be included in the blade itself and sometimes in the enclosure altogether. Together these form the blade system.
The servers are aggregated and managed locally or remotely through an enclosure onboard administrator (OA). Typically, each server includes a base management controller (BMC) that is connected to the onboard administrator via an Ethernet router to provide a single centralized management appliance for rack mount servers. Each BMC has an IP address and each server is managed individually and directly via the server's BMC. Cable clutter within the rack is a problem as server density increases and is aggravated by the internet cable to each BMC.
A universal serial bus (USB) hub is a standard peripheral interface for connecting a computer to different devices, such as digital cameras, monitors, modems, mouse, printers, scanners, game controllers, keyboards, and so on. USB hubs are described in an article “USB Hub”, (Electronics Information Online, 13 Nov. 2006), which is incorporated by reference herein and reproduced in part below.
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a peripheral bus specification that supports data exchange between a host computer and a wide range of simultaneously accessible peripherals. The bus allows peripherals to be attached, configured, used, and detached while the host and other peripherals are in operation. The capability eliminates the need to install interface card into dedicated computer slots and reconfigure the system each time a peripheral is attached or detached from a PC. Computer peripheral input/output (I/O) devices connect to a variety of data ports or external connectors of a host computer system, which includes a system processor and memory.
Peripheral device interfaces that comply with the specification are referred to as USB interfaces and have been included in many recently developed personal computer systems. Such USB devices are generally referenced as either low-speed devices, capable of transferring data at a rate of 1.5 Megabits per second (Mb/s); or high-speed devices (also called full-speed devices) capable of transferring data at 12 Mb/s. Under the USB 2.0 specification, full-speed devices are capable of using 40 times multipliers for a transfer rate of 480 Mb/s, and such USB devices are typically known as true high-speed devices. A USB standard interface allows up to 127 peripheral devices to be attached to a host, usually a personal computer (PC), through a 4-wire bus. Such devices can be connected to the PC either directly, or via hubs.